A little bit about me and my photographic history…

Me, I’m James, I’m thirty years old and an avid photographer. I used to live near Peterborough but now I live near Leicester. I moved here to go to University, and like a lot of people, I stuck around after.

I’ve been taking photographs for nearly two thirds of my life. Before the age of digital, I initially had an abundance of disposables, I quickly realised that it would cost a fortune to keep taking photos like that. Shortly after received a new little point and shoot Canon IXUS film camera for my 12th birthday. At that age, I had no idea about processing, darkrooms or any of the other amazing stuff you could do with film – I still don’t really!!

I was about 13 when my mum got our first digital camera, a whopping 1.2mp beast. The battery lasted for about 30 shots and it was far larger than most compacts that are around nowadays. I thought it was amazing! Luckily Moore’s law was in full swing by this time and improvements to every aspect of cameras were improving at an exponential rate.

A couple of years later, as well as taking photos, I’d fallen in love with making videos. This is when I got my first digital camera, a 5mp Sony DSC-W12 compact. This had 5mp, full manual controls and the ability to record video – wow, just WOW! Video editing was crudely done, all done in Windows movie maker, but it served the purpose and I could make videos to the music I loved at the time, Aphex Twin or the Prodigy etc. I’ll try and dig out some of the old videos at some point and add them to this post. I fear they’ve been lost on Myspace, haha. I quickly came to realise that I had a fondness for landscapes & cityscapes, this interest was spurred on as I was fortunate enough to be visiting my uncle in Paris on a regular basis. Below are a couple of photos taken in Paris from my little Sony when I was 16.

Rue Beethoven

Eifel Tower

I carried on shooting with my little Sony until I was 21 when I got my first DSLR, a Canon EOS 400D – I didn’t have this long as I got burgled in my 2nd year of Uni. Weirdly enough, the two times we’ve been burgled, the only stuff that was ever taken was mine – grrrrr!!! I managed to replace this with a EOS 450D which I kept until I was 27. Whilst I was at Uni and busy with other bits and bobs, I didn’t tend to get out too much to shoot, but as soon as I did, I fell in love all over again.

Guitar!

Thames Tower, Leics.

Ever since the Canon 6D was announced, I fell in love with it, the advancements in technology, the full frame sensor, the fact that it was the smallest and lightest full frame camera and just everything about it. I admit, I was probably a little premature purchasing this camera as I’d only recently got back into shooting and had no idea about processing photos. A common mistake that photographers make, thinking that new and expensive equipment will make them take better photos. I think it was a combination of that, and a love for tech that made me buy it… fortunately, and in my opinion, I’ve learnt a hell of a lot since I’ve had my current camera.

Whilst learning, I’ve enjoyed many types of photography which have led me to see and experience some amazing places, from exploring abandoned hospitals, asylums and disused railway tunnels to the tops of snow covered mountains. I count it all as a blessing, as without photography I don’t think I would have seen and enjoyed any where near as much of the world as I have. To finish this post, I’m sharing a couple are of my favourite images that I’ve taken with my current camera: